Embrace
by swagosaurus
Summary: When in the end, feelings are realized too late, and happiness is short-lived. NaruSaku, One-Shot, some manga spoilers.


A/N: SO MANY FEELS.

no angst though.

fluffy tragedy. is that a thing?

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_**The End - One-Shot**_

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The thick stench of sulfur filled his nose as he breathed in and out harshly. It was choking him; a vile, evil, encompassing stench.

The Juubi had broken free of Madara and Obito Uchiha's control, and had fully revived, just as the Shinobi Alliance arrived.

The screams of anguish and pain filled Naruto's ears as he lay on the cold, hard earth, his lungs clawing at the air for oxygen.

He was down to his last sliver of chakra. Kurama was all but drained.

It was over.

A thick, long, deep wound adorned his abdomen. He was pretty sure it damaged some organs and bones, as well.

Using his low amount of energy. He glanced around, watching the 50,000 man army try to battle the creator of this world. It's large mouth roared as it created a beam of destructive energy, vaporizing a platoon of Katon-users.

His eyes traveled to the prone form of a medic trying to heal herself; his breath hitched in his throat when he recognized her pastel colored hair. _Sakura-chan_.

Desperately, he crawled towards her. She was panting harshly, drenched in blood, as she attempted to heal a rather large hold in her side.

Ten meters.

He pushed himself further, groaning in pain as tears left his eyes. He had to make it to her. He had to _be _with her. As he got closer, he grimaced; from the way her legs were awkwardly bent, he could see they were completely broken.

Five meters.

The green light of her healing jutsu flickered away, and he heard her cry out in frustration and pain.

He reached her.

She gasped when she felt a cold hand on her cheek. He rolled over so they lay side by side, both on their backs.

She looked over, and her eyes widened when she met the teary, cerulean gaze of her blonde teammate.

"N-naruto.." She croaked weakly, reaching a hand over to grasp his.

"W...we're going to die, aren't we?" Sakura asked sadly. They both had to stifle a gasp as the broken body of Neji Hyuuga blew apart, limps flying everywhere.

He chuckled, but he didn't know why. "Y-yup. We k-kicked so much ass, it t-took only the creator of t-the world to take us down, ne, S-sakura-chan?" He said cheekily, before erupting into a fit of coughs, blood splaying out of his mouth.

He gasped for air, wiping the crimson fluid from his lips.

She grimaced as she watched him in pain. She squeezed his hand, staring into his deep, blue eyes that were clouded in sadness and agony, mirrored only by her own.

She then realized something; something she should have known long ago. Even in the darkest of situations, he was her own personal sun. He had somehow made light of the end of the world.

She couldn't live without him. She wanted him, needed him, and now knew she reciprocated his long-held feelings. A whole slew of buried, ignored and repressed affection for the blonde invaded her senses, and a revelation hit her.

She didn't lie in the Land of Iron.

"N-naruto..." She called out, and he blinked in recognition. The thickness of the air only grew as the giant beast roamed past them, it's attention focused on a rather large group of Alliance Shinobi, attacking it fruitlessly with kunai and shuriken.

She cupped both of his cheeks. Even in a time such as this, the closeness and intimate gesture caused him to blush.

"I...m-meant what I said before. In the Land of Iron. I...just realized it now. Y-you were right...I lied about not caring a-about Sasuke-kun. But...I do love _you _N-naruto." She desperately said, wheezing slightly at the pain in her legs and side.

His eyes widened when he saw only love and despair in her eyes. She was telling the truth.

Tears poured out of both of their eyes as they crushed their lips together clumsily, sharing their first and possibly only kiss. Their mouths moved in synch, their hot breaths mixing together as they gave each other their love.

They pulled back, clinging to one another as a group of ninja screamed, their flesh peeling from their bones as the Juubi's chakra poured out and washed over them.

"I love you..." Naruto whispered into his pink-haired teammates ear. He was slowly bleeding out, and judging by the paler complexion of Sakura's face, she was too.

"I l-love you too. God, why d-did this happen so late?" She said quietly, running her hands through his mud-caked hair. Blood pooled underneath the two newly-found lovers.

He felt his world fading gradually. He leaned over and placed one last, sad kiss on her pink lips. It grew more passionate as their tongues were added to the mix, dueling with one another as the world ended around them.

He pulled back once more, staring into the green eyes of Sakura Haruno. "I...think I'm about to die, S-sakura-chan." He breathed. He flinched at the hurt expression on her face.

"M-me too. At least we c-can die somewhat happy, ne?"

She heard him chuckle. "Y-yeah. What a journey. Shame i-it had to end this way." The blonde said, still staring at her face.

He got worried when she didn't blink. "Sakura-chan?" He asked. She made no movements, and her eyes were glazed over. Her body was limp in his arms, and she was unresponsive. Her pulse was missing.

She was dead. Pulled from the world without him.

The tears came freely. He embraced her body tightly. He wished he had died with her. He didn't want to live with this kind of pain.

He clenched his eyes closed as his own body began to feel numb, both with blood loss and emotion. The stench of the Juubi was overwhelmed by his fallen love's scent; a mix of vanilla and strawberries.

Somehow, he felt happy as the life began to leave him. It was irrational. Perhaps he would reunite with Sakura in a far off plane of existence, and share a bowl of ramen like they always did.

A vision of a date with Sakura was the last thing he thought before his wounds became his undoing.

In the end, the two lovers died in each others arms. Two soulmates, intertwined by a life-time's worth of hurt, were brought together at the worst hour, at the eve of the world's demise.

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A/N: Oh god. was that too cheesy? i didn't exactly know how to end it. 'they died.' doesn't seem too fitting.

was that terrible? amazing? meh? let me know!

I figured I should get some one-shots up. This one came to mind when I had some particularly bad feels one day.

hope you enjoyed (and cried. -evil laugh-).

-Swagosaurus


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